Photoinduced properties of materials embedded with semiconductor oxides were reported in several patents and papers (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,194,346, 6,074,981, 6,455,465, 6,524,664, Mor, et al., “A room-temperature TiO2-nanotube hydrogen sensor able to self-clean photoactively from environmental contamination”, J. Mater. Res., Vol. 19, No. 2, (2004), Benedix, et al., “Application of Titanium Dioxide Photocatalysis to Create Self-Cleaning Building Materials”, Lacer, No.5, (2000), Paz, et al., “Photooxidative self-cleaning transparent titanium dioxide films on glass”, J. Mater. Res., Vol. 10, No. 11, p. 2842, (1996)). All of these methods and results presented in patents and papers are based on the ultraviolet light photodecomposition of the semiconductor oxides deposited on the material surfaces that change the physical and chemical properties of these materials. These patents and papers do not teach how to use other wavelengths than UV light and how to use surface plasmon resonance-enhanced effects, nanotechnology advances, and other compounds like noble metals to enhance properties of materials. There were also successful attempts of blue light catalytic effects of semiconductor oxides deposited on material surfaces induced (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,139,803, 5,874,701). In that case, the semiconductor oxides were embedded to materials which they change the semiconductor oxides ultraviolet light absorption band to the blue light band. However, these materials display substantially reduced photocatalytic properties that limit them to be used in many applications. Again, these inventions do not teach how to use surface plasmon resonance-enhanced effects, nanotechnology advances, and other compounds like noble metals to enhance properties of materials.
Researchers from Hanyang University, South Korea incorporate nano-sized silver particles into polypropylene to produce an anti-microbial material that could be used in anything from carpets, to napkins and surgical masks. Silver has been medically proven to kill over 650 disease-causing organisms in the body and is also very safe. By combining silver and polypropylene to produce an organic-inorganic fiber, researchers have produced the first safe, anti-microbial fiber with a wide range of possible applications. The researchers used nano-sized silver particles to maximizing the surface area and give the optimum antibacterial effect. They found that the fibers containing silver in the core part had no antimicrobial activity and the fibers that included silver in the sheath part showed excellent antibacterial effect. However, this research does not show how to use surface plasmon resonance or other types of energy to significantly enhance antibacterial of textile fabrics, how to induce anti-microbial properties of fiber with embedded metal nanoparticles under fiber surface.
There are a few inventions related to antibacterial materials in which silver is embedded to these material fibers (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,584,668, 6,087,549, 5,985,301, 5,876,489, 4,340,043). However, in these patents there is no mention of enhancing antibacterial properties of materials induced by plasmon resonance or other types of energy, how to use metals other then silver or metal oxides with antibacterial properties of fabrics, what crucial role play the size and shape of embedded metal nanoparticles to fabrics on antibacterial properties of these fabrics.
There is also great need for “smart materials”, e.g. materials whose properties would be altered upon changes of physical parameters of environment surrounding these materials (T. Manning and I. Parkin, “Atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition of tungsten doped vanadium(IV) oxide from VOCl3, water and WCl6”, J. Mater. Chem., 2554-2559 (2004), U. Qureshi et al., “Atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition of VO2 and VO2/TiO2 films from the reaction of VOCl3, TiCl4 and water”,J. Mater. Chem., 1190-1194, (2004)). Currently, there is a very modem success of applying the method of surface plasmon resonance to “smart materials” (Y. Sun and Y. Xia, “Increased Sensitivity of Surface Plasmon Resonance of Gold Nanoshells Compared to That of Gold Solid Colloids in Response to Environmental Changes”, Anal. Chem., 74,5297-5305 (2002); Cao, Y.; Jin, R.; Mirkin, C. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123, 7961 (2001)). The observed, in these reports, surface plasmon resonance-enhanced spectral changes upon changing environment of surrounding materials are within 50 nm. In this method, the environmentally sensitive polymer covering metal nanoparticles alters its own properties upon changes in the environment, which leads to spectral changes of a SPR absorption band. These modest spectral changes are good enough to built biochemical sensors, but not sufficient to apply them in “smart materials”, where drastic spectral changes would be desired. For example, there is great need to observe spectral changes by a few hundreds nanometers in glass windows upon sunlight heat, which can cause blocking infrared sunlight by glass window when temperature of the glass is to high. Hence, there is great need for new methods which significantly would change properties of materials. The disclosed below invention shows a novel methodology how to enhance properties of materials by many orders of magnitude, to overcome limitations of conventional methods and provides novel applications of surface plasmon resonance-enhanced photocatalytic and other properties of materials.